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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27038419">Disintegration</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Alien (Prequel Movies), Alien Quadrilogy (Movies), Alien Series, Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alien Biology, Alien Character(s), Aliens, Androids, Angst, Author knows about nutrition and little else, Body Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, Later graphic depictions of violence, Medical Inaccuracies, Mpreg, Multi, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Child Characters, Past Rape/Non-con, Psychics, Taking liberties with biology, Taking liberties with genetics, Telepathy, i guess?, non-linear, tags to be updated, yeah pretty much</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:27:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27038419</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The whole thing felt off. Bursters hatched and...erupted, in a short timeframe,  never more than four or five days. The thing inside Jon had been there for a little over two months, and hadn’t made it’s own way out. There was no satisfactory explanation.</p><p>Clara made a noise of exhausted frustration. “Whatever he feels for it has to be attributable to the hormones. It’s anyone’s guess why they’re going haywire, but that has to explain it.”</p><p>Eve looked up and met her eyes. “Are you prepared for the possibility that there’s an alternative explanation?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Ah, me. I'm not even sure what this is. Based on a dream I had after watching Prometheus and Alien Covenant way, way too many times. </p><p>This chapter is basically a teaser. I absolutely know where this is going, and it's 85% finished. I intend the story to be non-linear, so I'm mostly just deciding how I'd like to break it up. </p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eve soothed her knuckles down his face. Jon didn’t open his eyes, flinch, or react at all. He was so deeply unconscious that he might have been drugged. He wasn’t, and as far as she could tell his body was struggling against the intruder inside it, while trying to balance its own defenses. </p><p>She punched in the order for a Bioscan, and frowned at the screen. The fever had climbed to 102.3, almost a half a degree since she’d first run diagnostics. His white count was too high and rising. Eve worried her lips between her teeth. They needed to take the thing out soon. It was a miracle that he was alive; no one could believe it, and no one had anticipated it but her. Even then, the hope that she’d felt when he’d spoken to her, alive if not well, was dangerous. </p><p>She had not been prepared to see him. For the rush of joy she’d felt when she found him alive, or for the despair that came after. Eve was shaken by the bitter rage she felt at what had been done to him. All she could do for him was remain calm, even.</p><p>She wished Jon would open his eyes. </p><p>There was a gentle knock behind her. “Any change?” Dr. Ravanmehr asked quietly.  She appeared to be perfectly composed, but her eyes were swollen and red-rimmed. Love and fear were written across her face. </p><p>Eve saw the emotion on Clara’s face and wanted to give her good news. To give her hope. She wanted to give words of comfort and for those words to be true. As it was,  Jon was alive, but his condition was deteriorating, and reason would dictate the procedure necessary to remove the xenomorph hatchling would put him in greater if not equal danger. “Not conscious yet. And the fever is rising.” She clenched one fist behind her back, and fought to relax her jaw. “We need to do something soon. I can’t estimate how much time we have. There’s no precedent to go on.” </p><p>Clara princes the bridge of her nose. “He needs at least twenty-four hours of an antibiotic drip. Even then, we’re pushing it.” </p><p>Informed consent. The words flashed through Eve’s mind over and over, like a mantra against her own instincts. If it weren’t for the ethical quagmire, they could throw caution to the wind and remove the thing the moment the OR was ready. It would allow them to get it done before the storm hit. It would also take the decision out of Jon’s hands. </p><p>But they couldn’t. “He made me promise that we wouldn’t make a move until he’s conscious. We need to try to wake him up.”</p><p>Clara stepped up closer to the bed, peering down at Jon. “I don’t understand any of it. You know the protocols, Eve. There shouldn’t be any question of removal, with or without his consent. You wouldn’t need informed consent to remove a foreign body, or a parasite.” She blinked hard. “But we’ve never seen it progress like this before. He should have been dead two months ago.”</p><p>Eve nodded. She punched in the order for his medical record and brought up the scan images that they’d taken right after evacuating him from the CHIMERA. “The...hatchling. It isn’t in his stomach, like it usually would be with a standard egg, a standard attack. It’s loose in his abdominal cavity, which is...new. There’s a mostly-healed scar in the lower left quadrant, but we’ll have to ask him exactly how the egg was originally implanted.” She paused, eyes drifting over the scan. “The egg hatched nearly eight weeks ago. There’s something that looks very much like a placenta, and an umbilical cord.”</p><p>“How?” Clara snapped. Her fingers gripped the bed railing. “How is that possible? It deviates so drastically from any other recorded case of xenomorph/human parasitism. It sounds almost like-“ She paused, shook her head. </p><p>“Like a pregnancy,” Eve finished for her. </p><p>Clara nodded, looking dazed and weak. “What about the blood work up?”</p><p>Eve worried her lip between her teeth. “More of the same. Elevated HCG. Elevated progesterone. His inflammation markers are up as well, so clearly his body is confused. Thinks it’s pregnant on the one hand,  but on the other hand it’s mounting something of an immune response. Clearly not enough to kill the thing, but enough to give him a fever. He’s teetering on the edge of a cytokine storm as it is.” She had to stop herself from reaching out and running a hand down his arm. Only Dr.  Ravanmehr’s presence stopped her.  </p><p>Clara ran a hand through her short bob of hair. “There’s no making sense of it it, is there, Eve?” She shook her head slowly and moved closer to Jon’s bed. “With all of the other instances of parasitism, it’s always an unambiguous, uncomplicated immune response. Are there any other reports like these in the archives? Elevated hormone levels,  that sort of thing?”</p><p>Eve shook her head. “Then again, have you ever heard of someone who didn’t want to have a burster removed? They’re usually begging for it.” She remembered the look of desperation on Jon’s face, and her fingers ached to take his hand. “He begged me to hold off. He feels something for it.”</p><p>The whole thing felt off. Bursters hatched and...erupted, in a short timeframe,  never more than four or five days. The thing inside Jon had been there for a little over two months, and hadn’t made it’s own way out. There was no satisfactory explanation.</p><p>Clara made a noise of exhausted frustration. “Whatever he feels for it has to be attributable to the hormones. It’s anyone’s guess why they’re going haywire, but that has to explain it.”</p><p>Eve looked up and met her eyes. “Are you prepared for the possibility that there’s an alternative explanation?” </p><p>Dr. Ravahmehr met her gaze. She looked unutterably tired. “He’s alive. I’m prepared for anything, Eve, but you’ll forgive me if my mind rebels somewhat at what you’re suggesting. There’s no precedent for it. And I have no idea how the mechanics of such a thing would work.”</p><p>Eve shrugged. “I think he believes it. It may or may not be true. When he wakes up,  I’ll try to get him to tell me what he knows.”  She glanced over at the window, frowning. The sky was the dull red of an approaching hurricane. Shit timing. “It would be good if we could make a determination before the storm hits. We have all of the backup power we need, but it will still complicate things.”</p><p>Clara reached out and ran her knuckle gently down Jon’s cheek. She smiled sadly. “I learned how to perform surgery during a war, Eve. Sometimes by candlelight. I can manage, if it comes to that. We just need him awake.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Alien baby POV. This whole work is...very strange, and inspired by a very strange dream.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The world ruptured around Anek. She had been confined before, with walls that gave if she pushed a hand or foot against it. Then the walls split and cracked, pushing her out and loose into an even warmer darkness.</p>
<p>The thumping that had been muffled when she was inside the egg was louder now, more clear. She knew innately that the sound was the beat of her father’s heart. Where it had been a steady thrum it was now fast and thunderous. </p>
<p>Anek could feel his pain, and was powerless against it.</p>
<p>She needed him to know. <i> I’m not doing this. I won’t hurt you.</i></p>
<p>She wouldn’t. The idea repelled and terrified her. Always she could hear her mother’s voice in her head, that low hiss that was nearly as comforting as her father’s voice, though more frightening.</p>
<p><i>Survive</i>, her mother whispered, across the thousands of miles separating them. <i>Survive at all costs. Males are expendable. He is no exception. </i></p>
<p>Anek shuddered.<i> He’s my father. I’m part of him.</i> </p>
<p>A faint dismissive snarl in her mind. <i> I selected him myself. You know this.To him you are only a parasite. They are all the same. Survive. Adapt.</i></p>
<p>“Anek?” Father said out loud. His voice was tight and raw with pain. “I need you to tell me you’re alright.”</p>
<p>There was a tightening near-pain in her chest. She felt his agony and fear, and most of the fear was for her. <i>I’m alright, Father. Are you?</i></p>
<p>He was breathing harder. She could feel the steady contraction of his lungs, could hear the frantic racing of his heart above her. <i>I think I will be.</i> Then the dark, soft wall above her pressed down slightly causing her to jerk. <i>Can you feel that?</i></p>
<p>Anek was afraid to move, but she carefully pressed a hand upward. <i>I can</i>.</p>
<p>Father sighed. <i>I can feel you moving, now.</i></p>
<p>Anek startled with alarm. <i>Does it hurt you?</i></p>
<p>More of the gentle pressure from above. <i>No, baby. It doesn’t hurt.</i> </p>
<p>She could feel his pain fading, gradually. It left him exhausted, but weak with relief. He’d sleep soon, and she could listen as his heart slowly calmed, turned from a thunderous beat to a steady thrum.</p>
<p><i>I’m not going to hurt you</i>, she repeated. She ignored her mother’s hiss in her mind.</p>
<p><i>I believe you</i>, Father said. He sounded tired, far away, and Anek wanted to let him sleep.</p>
<p>Now that his pain was trickling away, she let herself absorb where she was now. Loose inside his body, broken out of the egg. It may be more dangerous to him, but she felt guilty for the tiny spark of pleasure and comfort she felt. She was closer to him somehow, more a part of his body. He said their blood was connected now.</p>
<p>Her mother warned her that allowing her mind to join to his would make her weak, too-human.</p>
<p><i>I am half human, Mother. I am not ashamed</i>. </p>
<p>Her mother hissed lowly in her mind, and was quiet. Anek felt guilty for her relief. </p>
<p>She nestled gently against the soft yet firm wall surrounding her, and fell asleep to the sound of her father’s heart.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>In case you haven't noticed, I have absolutely zero understanding of the over-arching Alien lore! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jon eyed himself in the mirror. Eyes so bloodshot the whites were nearly red. Dark circles under them, deep purplish shadows that worsened every day that passed. Another wave of nausea hit, forcing him to take deep, slow breaths. He couldn’t afford to be sick again. Neither of them could afford it. </p>
<p>Four days to earth. Seven weeks since Anek had hatched. There had to be enough time, even if he had to make it himself. </p>
<p>With shaking hands he unscrewed the cap from the bottle of Nutricomplete. He studied the nutrition stats, squinting at the low light. 100% of daily protein for a 77 kg male, seventy-percent hydrolyzed amino acids. Two or three bottles a day might be enough to keep them both alive, if not healthy, until they reached home. Jeff prayed he could keep it down, and tossed it back like a shot. He’d never been more grateful that they were flavorless. </p>
<p>Almost immediately another giant wave of nausea washed over him. He leaned forward,  gripping the sink, and breathed slowly, gritting his teeth. </p>
<p>
  <i>Don’t make yourself sick for me. </i>
</p>
<p>Jon couldn’t help but grin at that. <i>I’m already sick, kiddo. If I have to make myself a little more sick to keep you well, I’m going to do it.</i> </p>
<p>Slowly, gingerly, he straightened and made his way slowly for the bed. He stretched out carefully and stared up through the window at the immense blackness and the silvery streaks of stars. The CHIMERA hurled through space, towards Earth and help. He couldn’t be even remotely sure that they would get there in time. </p>
<p>He reached beside him to punch in the orders for a biological status report. The bed vibrated faintly around him as it took measurements. The results projected themselves on the wall in front of the bed, shocking bright blue in the darkness. </p>
<p>HEART RATE: 70<br/>
BP: 127/66<br/>
BLOOD GLUCOSE: 65 (LOW)</p>
<p>And, in flashing red: FETAL HEARTBEAT DETECTED</p>
<p>Jon snorted, and scanned the rest of the report. Albumin low. Not good, but to be expected. Electrolytes borderline. Most of the values were off, but surprisingly stable considering. He reasoned that something was preventing his immune system from attacking Anek outright. Either she was secreting something to suppress the response, or his body recognized his own genetic material and held off. He noticed that he’d lost six pounds since the beginning of the mission. That was concerning; too much to chalk up to dehydration or loss of glycogen stores. He’d have to try to choke down more bottles of Nutricomplete if they were going to make it home. </p>
<p>He sighed, and dismissed the report with a sweep of his hand. He closed his eyes tight, drew in a deep breath. His stomach was starting to settle, but he was so tired he felt he could sink into the sheets, through the bed and into nothingness. He’d never felt a tiredness like this before, like he was dissolving. </p>
<p>For the thousandth time, Jon cursed the fact that the CHIMERA was a quick-transport vessel and not a long-term residential ship. The latter would’ve been fitted with a complete and fully-equipped infirmary with all the diagnostic bells and whistles. Even the cheapest 22nd century equipment would have been able to tell him exactly how his body was attached to Anek’s. </p>
<p>She said that she was connected to what sounded like a sort of umbilical cord, long enough for her to move freely. If there was a cord, there was likely some sort of placenta attached to his abdominal wall. The process of it connecting to his own blood supply via a capillary complex was probably what had caused the mind-numbing pain right after she’d hatched from her egg. But even assuming that she was receiving nutrients from him, it wouldn’t be enough in the long run. </p>
<p>All of it was such an insane departure from the usual xenomorph reproductive cycle. From the ovipositor, which he still couldn’t bring himself to recall, to their current situation. There were moments when Jeff could set back and view it all objectively and see it for the incredible feat of biological engineering that it was. </p>
<p>
  <i>Father? </i>
</p>
<p>Hmm?</p>
<p><i>I think that helped!  I feel like I have more energy than I did!</i> To demonstrate, Anek moved, seemed to press enthusiastically against his navel. He gasped, then sighed with relief. </p>
<p>So she was getting some degree of nutrition from his body. God willing it would be enough to last them until they could get her out of him. He was no expert on xenomorph biology, and he didn’t know how or if his genetic contribution would alter her nutrient needs, but he felt innately that she’d start to decline soon if she didn’t get an adequate food supply. </p>
<p>He had to stay positive.<i> See? Totally worth it.</i> </p>
<p>Jon closed his eyes, and imagined he could see Anek swimming inside his belly. For all he knew, he really was seeing her. No longer than his hand at this stage, not fully xenomorph, and not fully human. The soul and mind of a person for sure, regardless of how well her cognition was developed. She had an increasingly impressive grasp of things, but still expressed herself very much like he imagined a human baby would if they were able to. For days he’d searched her mind for the mindless, feral hostility of her mother’s people, and couldn’t find a trace off it. When he probed, he found only curiosity,  wonder, confusion. </p>
<p>And love,  for the man whose body she inhabited. Love that grew daily, shocking him and shaking him as it grew in magnitude. A deep, abiding concern grew with it.  Anek new how precarious their situation was. She was a living contradiction to him; very much a baby in some ways, but able to easily comprehend cause and effect, as well as the passage of time. </p>
<p>Jon was terrified of what he felt for her. He should have been disgusted by the invasion, by the presence of something foreign and other and historically dangerous in his body. But as Anek grew inside him, his conviction that she was more like him than her mother grew. </p>
<p><i>I’m sorry, Father.</i> </p>
<p>Jon opened his eyes. <i>You have nothing to be sorry for. </i></p>
<p>Anek hesitated, stirring gently. <i>You’re unwell because of me.</i></p>
<p>He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Their connection ran too deep for him to lie to her.<i> You didn’t ask to be put where you are. And you’re going against instinct not to hurt me. That’s singular. You’re one of one.</i> </p>
<p>She pushed lightly against the wall of his belly. He pressed a hand to the area, smiling when she pushed back. A strange warmth grew in his chest.<i> You defy instinct too, to let me live. To care if I’m growing and healthy. I know you could put a stop to all of it.</i></p>
<p>Of course she was right. If he didn’t have the other sense, the bottom would have fallen out. If she had been a regular xenomorph spawn with no genetic connection to him. He’d come so close to opening his veins and ending them both. Reflecting on it now made him faint, like having narrowly avoided falling.<i> I can’t make any promises about what’s going to happen. I don’t know that we’ll be okay, but I’m going to do everything I can.</i></p>
<p>
  <i>I trust you, Father.</i>
</p>
<p>He had woken up that morning with an intrusive thought. With every passing day, his desire for her to live evolved into a bone-deep need. He knew that, however much the idea of it disturbed him, that it was a parental instinct that drove him to keep her well. It had occurred that, if she grew too big or his body grew too weak to sustain her, he could tell her to act according to her instinct. If one of them was going to survive, he desperately needed it to be her. </p>
<p>But then what? She’d find herself utterly alone in an empty ship. When the CHIMERA landed they would find his corpse and kill her without a thought. </p>
<p><i>Both of us,</i>Anek sent him. His eyebrows drew together, troubled by her ability to read him even when he tried to keep his thoughts private.<i> Whatever happens to you will happen to me.</i></p>
<p>The warmth bloomed again in his chest. It was terrifying, but a counterpoint to the cold.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So... it’s been awhile. Not gonna lie, life is just a lot, as y’all know. Pandemic + grad school + work = insufficient writing time.</p>
<p>Hope this <strike> email </strike> chapter finds you well!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The light sent a beam of pain through his head. His heart started to race, which made Anek stir fitfully. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes. He barely had the energy to lift his arm. “Fuck,” he muttered. His vision blurred, and he had to blink before he could see. He was so weak he could barely lift his head on the pillow.</p>
<p>“Dr. O’Bannon?” Eve said, more shock in her voice than he would have thought she’d was capable of. She lowered her light. If she could have seen the look of awe and joy on her face she would have been mortified. </p>
<p>Jon swallowed hard, winced. “Hi,” he croaked. His voice was rough from disuse. Eve’s too-perfect and so familiar face wobbled and blurred. “Am I dead, Eve?”</p>
<p>She moved forward and put a cool hand on his hot face. “You’re alive. I don’t understand how, but you are.” Her eyes darted around the rest chamber for a moment, before turning back to him. “It’s still…” she began. She looked down, and tentatively laid a hand on his belly. Anek jumped from the pressure as if on queue. Eve’s eyebrows went up. “It’s alive and you’re alive. Shouldn’t be possible.”</p>
<p>Jon cleared his throat. “I know it shouldn’t.” With shocking strength he grabbed Eve’s hand. “I’m not insane. I think I’m more sane now than I’ve ever been.”</p>
<p>Eve eyed him with a look he couldn’t identify. “I believe you.”</p>
<p>Jon relaxed and laid back on the bed, breathing hard. “I think if I try to sit up I may throw up.” He tried to soften the words with a weak smile. </p>
<p>Eve worried her lips between strong, white teeth. “I didn’t know what I would find.” </p>
<p>“You thought I’d be dead,” Jon said calmly, simply. “Messily. I should be.”</p>
<p>A look crossed Eve’s face that might have been pain, if she were human. “I knew you were alive. I need to call an ambulance. Then we can get you, uh. Taken care of.”</p>
<p>“Eve,” Jon said hoarsely. He gripped her hand tighter. “It’s not a parasite.”</p>
<p>She paused for a moment, finger poised on the small screen on her wrist. “What?”</p>
<p>He was breathing hard, struggling to remain conscious. He took a deep breath. “It. She. She’s conscious. I’ve been communicating with her in...my way.”</p>
<p>Eve blinked for a moment. “I’m sure you believe that. But-“</p>
<p>Jon shook his head, wincing at the dizziness. “Look, you don’t have to believe me right now, before you run any tests. Just promise me that you won’t let them yank her out of me while I’m unconscious.”</p>
<p>There was movement in the corridor behind them. Medics, he guessed. Though he shuddered inwardly at the idea of more people crowding around, he was nearly sick with relief that Anek would be taken out of him soon. That she’d have a fighting chance. </p>
<p>His vision was wavering again. He might have hallucinated Eve’s hand on his face, the gentleness in her eyes. “I won’t let them do anything until you’re awake, Jon.” Her face shimmered and blurred.</p>
<p>****************************************************************************</p>
<p>Jon dragged his eyes open. Every inch of his body ached. He shivered, still wracked by the fever that had gripped him for three days. He looked down at his hand, squinting at the light. He was stretched out on an imaging table. The white backlight stung his eyes, made his head pound even harder. </p>
<p>
  <i>Father?</i>
</p>
<p>His entire body relaxed, in spite of the pain and the growing roil of nausea in his stomach. <i> It’ s okay, kiddo. They’re going to get you out soon</i>.</p>
<p>He jumped at a sudden noise. Eve came around the corner, wearing a lab coat and a strange look of relief on her face. “Oh, you’re awake. Dr. Ravenmehr just left to brief the surgical team.” </p>
<p>Jon blinked and tried to sit up. Eve put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Not yet. You’re miles better than we thought you’d be, but you’re sick, Jon.”</p>
<p>He felt like hell, which meant he was alive. And Anek was still alive, defying so many odds. “Eve,” he ground out, wrapping his fingers around her slender wrist. “I need to tell you something.”</p>
<p>She peered down at him, looking confused and a little afraid. “I can call someone for you.”</p>
<p>Nausea was beginning to wash over him, harder and stronger than it had for the past few weeks. He shook his head. “No, you are someone, damnit. I need to talk to you.” Even though it drove her crazy, he pushed into her mind. Eve, don’t go. Please.</p>
<p>She bared her teeth in a near-snarl. “Do not do that.”</p>
<p>Jon dropped her hand, nodding. “I’m sorry, but I’m at the end of my rope.” He drew a deep breath, willed the nausea away. “I trust you.”</p>
<p>Eve looked pained, but she didn’t move away. “What is it?”</p>
<p>He propped himself up on his elbows, fighting a wave of dizziness and weakness. “I need all of you to understand that this,” he said, pointing to his stomach, “is not a parasite. I know it doesn’t make sense, but you’ve got to believe me.”</p>
<p>Eve’s brows drew together. When she spoke her voice was even, gentle. “You’re traumatized. And sick. You’ve been through something...unprecedented, and terrible.” </p>
<p>Jon gritted his teeth and shook his head. “That’s bullshit and you know it, Eve. Be creative.” He fought to catch his breath, and Anek stirred weakly, sensing his racing heart. “Xenomorphs reproduce by horizontal gene transfer, yes? DNA 100% from the mother, no genetic contribution from the host.”</p>
<p>Eve nodded. “Give or take some rumored experiments on Prime, yes.”</p>
<p>He swallowed hard. “They’ve been busy. Biological engineering. A new phase in their evolution.” He paused to catch his breath. “Vertical gene transfer.”</p>
<p>Eve starred for a moment. Eyes wide, considering. She grimaced. “They aren’t capable of that degree of sophistication. Surely.”</p>
<p>Jon closed his eyes for a moment. “A few months ago I would agree with you. I’d agree with you now if I wasn’t living it.” Silence hung between them for a few moments. </p>
<p>“So less of a parasite,” Eve began slowly. Her frown deepened. “More of a child.” Her fingers drummed restlessly on the imaging table. “How do you know?”</p>
<p>“The usual way. I asked her,” he replied calmly. Exhaustion was starting to settle over him like a pall. He hadn’t carried on a verbal conversation with anyone for two months, and the strain was stronger than he’d anticipated. “DNA testing will prove it. There’s no doubt in my mind.” He took a slow, steady breath. “But she’s got to come out. We’ve pushed it as long as we can.” </p>
<p>Eve sucked in a breath. “That was the plan, regardless. But if you’re right, this changes things. Slightly.” </p>
<p>“So you believe me?”</p>
<p>She blinked at him. “You don’t lie. And before you say it again,  I know you’re not insane.”</p>
<p>Jon dragged his eyes open again. “You have to understand something. If I thought that keeping her inside me longer would improve her chances, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” He swallowed, throat aching. “Do you see what I’m saying?”</p>
<p>Eve nodded slowly. Droids weren’t supposed to be able to look tired, but her whole body seemed to droop. “It shouldn’t be possible. But you’re alive, and whatever...connection seems to exist between you and it, explains it.” She stared deeply into his eyes, searching for something. “I’ll brief Dr. Ravahmehr. I don’t need to tell you that this is going to be hard for her and everyone else to accept.” </p>
<p>“They don’t need to accept it, they just need to agree not to hurt her when she’s born.” His eyes drifted up and over to the imaging panel. </p>
<p>Eve shook her head violently. “I wouldn’t look at that if I were you.”</p>
<p>Jon sighed. “Don’t worry. I already know what she looks like.” On the wall mounted panel he could see a real time image of his abdominal cavity. The details were difficult to make out, but he could see Anek nestled among his internal organs. She was curled up slightly, clearly trying to take up as little space as possible; the more she grew, the more she voiced her anxiety about hurting him somehow. Seeing her made her more real to him, made her growing weakness and fear for him more immediate. </p>
<p>Even on the screen, the physical details of Anek were difficult to quantify. She looked somewhat like a very young, newly hatched xenomorph, and somewhat like a human fetus. </p>
<p>He could feel her fear, and his inability to comfort her increased his misery. Seeing her caused the growing longing to burn in his chest. His own powerlessness was exhausting. Soon, he promised her, smiling weakly as she stirred, movement visible on the display panel. Soon it’ll be over, and you can come out.</p>
<p>You won’t let them take me away from you? Anek asked. </p>
<p>No. He prayed he’d be able to keep that promise. The surgery to remove her would be hard on his already-taxed body,  he knew. He had no choice but to trust Clara and Eve and the rest of them. </p>
<p>“Does it hurt?” Eve asked, suddenly. </p>
<p>Jon blinked at her. “Does what hurt?”</p>
<p>“When it moves.” </p>
<p>He took a deep breath to push away the nausea, and shook his head. “It doesn’t hurt. And it’s happening less and less.” </p>
<p>Eve eyed him strangely. “You feel a connection with it. You really do.”</p>
<p>“Her,” Jon said quickly, nearly snapped. “She’s female. And I do. She’s not a parasite, Eve.” He closed his eyes, and listened to the bird-quick chirp of Anek’s heart on the monitor. “Have you noticed that it sounds human? Like a normal fetal heartbeat.” </p>
<p>“I had noticed. I just wasn’t sure what it meant. I’m still not sure.” </p>
<p>Jon’s jaw tensed, and he looked from Eve to the monitor and back. “Do you know how to perform a chorionic villi sampling?”</p>
<p>She pursed her lips. “Of course. But as strange as all of this is, I’m going to have to remind you that you still don’t have a womb.”</p>
<p>He flashed her a tired grin. “More’s the pity, in this instance.” He jerked his head at the imaging panel. “There’s a placenta, plain as day. It’s attached to the omentum instead of a uterine wall, but in every other respect it looks about like you’d expect,  doesn’t it? You could take a sample and get the DNA work up started. I’m positive it’ll prove me right.”</p>
<p>A look very close to pain crossed Eve’s face. Her shoulders twitched uncomfortably. “Would it be difficult for you to believe that I don’t need proof?”</p>
<p>Weariness blanketed Jon, both from the physical strain and from the relief of her words, from the look on her face. “Not difficult at all for me to believe about you.” The words were out of his mouth before he knew it. He nearly winced, because this breach of protocol or decorum or whatever it was between them often made Eve uncomfortable. But he found it impossible to see her as anything but entirely human, and the trust he felt for her came as true as breathing. “I’m going to need back up for this with everyone else. Even Clara, at first. Can you do the sampling?” </p>
<p>Eve glanced over at the image of Anek on the display monitor. “I’ll do it. And I’ll fight your corner, for whatever that’s worth.” She turned her eyes to him, and those eyes were filled with more compassion than they should have been capable of. “I’m sorry that this has happened. But if you’re right about...her, then the least we can do is keep you both alive.”</p>
<p>Jon’s entire body sagged with relief. Words failed, and he nodded weakly. </p>
<p>Eve stood up, and moved away from him and towards the display monitor. She tilted her head slightly as she stared at the image of Anek. “You’re suggesting that you’re her father. Her biological father.” </p>
<p>Jon’s shoulders tensed. He hadn’t said the words, even to himself.  He hadn’t even thought them precisely. Anek using the word and him using it were two different things. But he knew, innately. His body and his mind knew, regardless of whether or not he admitted it to himself. He sighed, and nodded. </p>
<p>Eve lifted a hand and traced long fingers across the curve of Anek’s back. “Meaning that her biological mother is-“</p>
<p>“Yes,” Jon said sharply. His head was pounding again. “I...later. When Clara’s here.” </p>
<p>She seemed to understand immediately that he couldn’t or wouldn’t discuss Anek’s conception yet. Eve nodded, and turned back to him. “I can do the sampling quickly, before Dr. Ravahmehr comes back. We can have the work up running and the results in before you’re ready for surgery.”</p>
<p>*******************************************</p>
<p>“The needle will sting going in,” Eve said gently. “And you’ll likely feel some cramping after the fact.”</p>
<p>Jon nodded, willing his abdominal muscles to relax. “Trust me, I’ll have felt worse since all of this began.”</p>
<p>Eve winced and nodded. She gently dabbed antiseptic on the lower right quadrant of his abdomen, and positioned the needle. “Inserting now.”</p>
<p><i>It’s alright</i>, he warned Anek. <i>It’s just a test. It’s going to help you and me out. Just hold still for a few seconds.</i></p>
<p>Anek didn’t reply, but he could feel her tense slightly, and curl in on herself. </p>
<p>He winced as the needle pierced his skin, and focused on the image on the mounted wall monitor. Eve was quick and efficient,  as always.  It took her less than twenty seconds to extract the chorionic villus sample and withdraw the needle. She calmly popped the barrel of the syringe into the pneumonic channel on the wall, and plugged in the instructions for the lab. </p>
<p>“They’ll run it against your DNA samples on file. Won’t take much more than an hour.” With a strange gentleness she pulled the scrub shirt down over his abdomen again. “Are you in any pain now?”</p>
<p>Jon shook his head. “Believe it or not, it hasn’t hurt once since the placenta attached.” Wincing, and breathing deeply to combat the rising nausea, he maneuvered himself onto his side. </p>
<p>Eve raised an eyebrow. “Is that more comfortable?”</p>
<p>He nodded, and pressed a steadying hand to his belly. “I know she doesn’t look very big, but she’s grown enough it’s kind of hard to breathe if I’m flat on my back.” He tried desperately not to think about how that was true of pregnant women in the latter trimesters. </p>
<p>“Try to get some rest,” Eve said gently. She busied herself typing something into the panel on the wall. “Dr. Ravahmehr will be back soon. We need to see what this storm is planning to do before we proceed."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy Alien Day 2021!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Water at 94 degrees,” Jon ordered. It nearly scalding when it hit his skin. But he was cold, felt cold deep into his bones. Water sluiced over his body, hot enough to steam, but he shivered in spite of it.  He swallowed hard and leaned his forehead against the smooth white porcelain of the shower stall. </p>
<p>His fingertips ghosted over his belly. A hallucination. It has to be a hallucination. A defense mechanism or a coping mechanism, something to deal with impending death? Or the crushing sense of failure. It can’t be real.</p>
<p><i>I’m here</i>, the tiny, frightened voice said. <i>Father? I’m here.</i></p>
<p>Jon’s eyes snapped open. His whole body trembled in spite of the water’s heat. The voice in his mind was too loud and too close to be a hallucination. He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, fighting to focus. He was grateful for the rush of the water; in the echoing silence of CHIMERA, it was easy to hear the screams of his shipmates again. Or the low hiss of the thing that had attacked him. </p>
<p><i>Who are you?</i> He asked. <i>Where are you?</i></p>
<p>Nothing for a moment. He began to wonder again if his mind had fabricated it. <i>Aneksaninaara, like my mother’s mother. I think.</i> There was hesitation, and he could feel the trepidation. <i>Maybe Anek is easier? I don’t know where I am. There are smooth walls and a thumping sound.</i></p>
<p>Jon’s heart sped up, thundering painfully in his chest. His throat felt hot and tight. Smooth walls. The egg he’d been implanted with? And a thumping sound. <i>Is the sound getting faster?</i></p>
<p>
  <i>It is.</i>
</p>
<p>He forced himself to breathe slowly and evenly. There was no point in dwelling on the impossibility. Either he was hallucinating, or he was communicating telepathically with the embryonic xenomorph inside an egg inside his abdomen. Neither option was optimal, and either was as unlikely as the alternative. </p>
<p><i>I think the thumping is my heart,</i> he told the tiny voice. Aneksaninaara. Anek, for short. There was no way to know if she even knew what a heart was. He fought a wave of dizziness. <i>You’re inside me. I think.</i> </p>
<p>
  <i>I know, Father.</i>
</p>
<p><i>Father.</i> He winced at it, but didn’t have the will to correct it. Her. It sounded distinctly like a her, surreal as that was. He ran a shaking hand through his wet hair. </p>
<p>It was too much to handle. The fact of it, and the implications. Jon scrubbed his skin until it burned and closed his mind as much as he could, just for awhile longer. He needed to cling to whatever sanity he had left is he was going to at least direct the ship home.<br/>
________</p>
<p>He stretched out naked, still wet from the shower. He couldn’t stop shaking, and programmed heat on the bed unit. </p>
<p>Jon closed his eyes tight, willing the headache away. Since the...encounter, he hadn’t felt exactly unwell. He didn’t feel the way he thought he would, the way he thought someone would be after implantation. Of course, his experience wasn’t the norm or the default. </p>
<p>He shuddered, gritted his teeth against the shaking. He drew in deep, slow breaths. <i>Don’t think of it. Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it.</i></p>
<p>There was a light ache in his lower left abdomen, but the small wound had mostly healed. Jon tried to think of it objectively, like a pathologist. The egg had to be small, significantly smaller than the ones usually implanted. He’d never seen anything like this method of implantation in any over two centuries of literature on the subject. If anyone had ever experienced something similar to what was done to him, they didn’t survive to attest to it. </p>
<p>By the standards of a normal attack and implantation, he should have been dead hours ago. But there had been no hugger, no coma-like sleep, and an egg directly passed into his body. Straight through skin and muscle and into the abdominal cavity. Everything about this was different and strange and unutterably wrong.</p>
<p>Deep, slow breaths. <i>Don’t think about it.</i></p>
<p>
  <i>Why are you afraid?</i>
</p>
<p>Jon’s eyes snapped open. The voice was real. It had to be. It sounded as clear as his mother’s in his head, as real as Eve’s interior voice. It was coming from somewhere inside his body. There was no missing it. </p>
<p>How could it communicate with him? How, in precisely the way that was unique to him and to people like him. It was a human ability, purely human. That tiny voice didn’t sound exactly inhuman, but there was a tone to it, a faint echo, that he’d never heard from a person before. </p>
<p>He took a deep breath. There was no escaping it, clearly. Opening a dialogue and maintaining it was the only option. <i>I’m afraid that you’re going to hurt me when you hatch.</i></p>
<p>He felt a shudder of something from it. Fear? Dismay? <i>Why would I hurt you?</i></p>
<p>He frowned deeply. His head pounded. <i>Do you know what you are? Do you understand?</i></p>
<p>Hesitation. <i>I know my mother’s name, and hers. Going back to...forever? I’m one of the People.</i></p>
<p>Jon shuddered, and fought a wave of nausea. So it did know. </p>
<p>
  <i>But I’m you, too. You’re my Father. I don’t want to hurt you. I won’t do it.</i>
</p>
<p>His heart sped up, fast enough that his chest ached. <i>What do you mean you’re me? How can you be?</i></p>
<p>
  <i> says I’m the product of Mother and Father. Mother is one of the People. Father is something else. The other ones. Weak bodies, strong minds. I’m both of you.</i>
</p>
<p>Jon sat bolt upright. The Queen had...extracted DNA from him. He had been nearly out of his mind, so he hadn’t seen. The egg, though. Had it...she...managed to fertilize it,  somehow? That would mean that the thing in the egg wasn’t just a parasite.</p>
<p>It was impossible. There was no precedent for it. It was so utterly different from any reproductive cycle that the xenomorph had used since the two species had been in contact. Each implantation was a case of simple, uncomplicated parasitism. Horizontal gene transfer, directly from the mother to the offspring. Hosts contributed certain attributes, but never actual DNA. </p>
<p>He forced himself to breathe slowly. No host had ever been used the way he had. At least no surviving host. No egg had ever been implanted that way, not down the throat but straight into the abdominal cavity, via an ovipositor. </p>
<p>But it couldn’t be. </p>
<p>
  <i>Father? I won’t hurt you. Don’t be afraid. I promise I won’t.</i>
</p>
<p>Jon pressed a hand to his belly. He didn’t know what to say to it. He could feel it’s distress. Her distress?<i> Okay. I believe you. With a shaking hand, he grabbed a tranquilizer shot from the pharmadrawer in the nightstand. He uncapped it with his teeth and drove the needle into his thigh. <i>I’m going to sleep, now. We can talk later. </i></i></p>
<p>
  As he drifted off into nothingness, he felt something emanating from it. Her. Something very close to relief.
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Full disclosure, I'd give myself a C- on broader Alien lore, and I think I've spent more time on Xenopedia in the past week than I ever have.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Anek pulled the sheet more tightly around her. This room was cold. This world was cold. There was a too-whiteness to the light, and it stung her eyes. It was too loud and too quiet at once. The sounds were piercing, knife-sharp.  She was used to the constant, comforting thrum of her father’s heart. </p><p>Be calm, he’d said. He’d find her soon. Every second was a struggle not to panic. </p><p>The woman across the room wasn’t real. Or, she was real, but not in the way that Father or the woman who had pulled Anek out of his body were real. Real skin, real hair and eyes. A real mind, though the woman didn’t know it. She’d been made, not born. Unlike all of the others there was no fear in her. Only curiosity. Anek recognized her voice, low and reassuring, from when she was still inside Father.  He’d called her Eve. </p><p>The mothersense said that newborns of the People should be able to walk and run and hunt right after birth. But even after feeding, Anek couldn’t stand on her legs. She could lift her arms, but they trembled with the effort. </p><p>She knew also that her mother’s People should be independent from birth to death. In this way she was also different, and more like her father’s weak-bodied,  strong-minded species. From the moment she’d been pulled into the light and air, Anek longed painfully for her father. The warmth of his body, his voice. The reassuring, always-there of his inside Voice. It had been with her since before she’d broken out of her egg, before the life cord that connected his blood to hers. </p><p>Anek trembled from cold and fear. The ring that dark, not-born-but-made woman had put around her throat glowed red. It made a sound like Inside Voice, but people who weren’t like her and Father could hear and understand. Outside Voice. Everyone but the perfect-faced woman was afraid of it, and jumped when she used it. </p><p>“Is Father alright?” Outside Voice sounded different and strange to Anek. High and strange. </p><p>Eve looked up at her. Her long fingers stopped dancing across the smooth rectangle in her lap. Her perfect features were a mask of interest, with no trace of fear. “He isn’t well, exactly. But he’s much better than he was. He’ll be alright.”</p><p>This was more than anyone else had told when she asked. The other woman, the one who had delivered her, looked at Anek with fear and sadness. Her face was kind, at least, but she clearly had a hard time looking at Anek. Eve looked at her the same way she looked at everyone else. Anek feared everyone here, anyone who wasn’t Father, but she feared Eve the least. </p><p>“Can I be with him?” She asked. Something strange and wet fell from her eyes. The need to see Father was stronger than any hunger she’d felt.  Especially since he was sick, and it was her fault. She knew it was. </p><p>Eve frowned. “I think that would be best. But no one will sign off on it yet. Soon, I hope.” </p><p>Anek shuddered, and clutched the soft material they’d set her on. She was desperate, terrified, and utterly alone. And yet, she had nothing to lose. “How do I know that you aren’t lying?”</p><p>Eve’s eyebrows shot up. “Lying about what?”</p><p>Anek swallowed. “About him being alive.” Her small heart raced. Eve wasn’t angry; she could sense if she was. She was intrigued, and shocked by Anek’s ability to reason and communicate. Anek knew enough from Father to know that human babies were nonverbal, utterly helpless. She felt helpless, but didn’t want to show it.  “Mothersense says earth people are weak and cowards and liars. Father isn’t any of those things, but I know him. I don’t know you.” Water fell faster from her eyes. “How do I know that you aren’t lying about him being alive?”</p><p>Eve set down the shining rectangle and stared at Anek. “You sound like him,” she said softly. There was an odd look on her face that vanished quickly. “Strange. His eyes, and you talk like him, somehow.” She stood up. </p><p>Anek blinked. “Where are you going?”</p><p>Eve pressed a button, and the shining see-through wall parted. “To get you proof, Little Anek,” she said. The wall closed again. “I’ll be right back. Try not to be scared.”</p><p>While she was gone, Anek tried to reach Father with Inside Voice. She felt the gentle hum in her mind, but his didn’t answer hers. She fought the urge to despair. So many doubts and fears bombarded her. The world was strange, foreign. The people looked odd to her, though she wasn’t sure that her mother’s people would precisely look normal either. She wondered if Father would find her. </p><p>She wondered if he would want to, after some time away from her. Fear poured off of these people in waves she could sense, and fear came with hatred. If she was hated, it would be difficult for him. </p><p>Eve returned holding a thin piece of light blue fabric. “Here you are,” she said cheerfully, handing the object to Anek. Anek held it, puzzled. </p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>Eve smiled her small, secret smile. “It was the pillowcase your father used during by g the surgery. I just took it off. Surely his scent is on it.”</p><p>Of all the people who had come in and out, Eve was the only one that referred to him as her father. It made her more inclined to trust her. Anek frowned, and lifted the fabric up to here face. There it was. </p><p>Father. Warmth and comfort and cleverness and love. She breathed in the scent. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “May I keep this?”</p><p>“Of course you can,” Eve said quickly. She frowned. “I’m going to see about taking you to him. He’s going to want to see you.” </p><p>Anek clutched the pillowcase closer to her chest. “Are you sure that he does?” She was new, but not stupid. These people looked at her and saw a monster. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to look, but clearly her appearance didn’t fit the norm. It had been hard enough for Father to choose to carry her, to not end both of their lives the way he’d been planning to. Holding her and claiming her would even harder, when she’d already become a target of ridicule and fear. </p><p>Eve made a strange noise in her throat and a look of pain crossed her face. “He’ll see you. When I was with him all he would talk about was you.” She paused. “He was desperate to keep you safe. I’m sure he’ll be livid when he’s awake. If there was a way to keep him with you throughout, he would have done that.” </p><p>Anek felt a warmth spread through her chest. She turned again with Inside Voice to find him, but couldn’t. Wherever he was, he was too far away. But Eve was here. Eve was kind to her without knowing how brave her kindness was. Anek stopped just short of probing into her mind with Inside Voice (Father had told her that she hated it particularly, because it frightened her that she could receive it) but she could sense the shadows of Eve’s thoughts. They made her sad. Eve's thoughts swirled round and round, looking for a place to land. “I think you’re a person,” Anek blurted. </p><p>Eve froze for a moment before busying herself with controls on a screen. “What do you mean?”</p><p>“You’re a <i>real</i> person,” Anek said. She buried her face in the fabric again, inhaled to soothe herself. “You think you’re different from the rest of them, just because you were made. You all feel the same to me.”</p><p>Eve didn’t look up from what she was doing. “You talk very much like your father,” she said slowly. “I ...like your father. He doesn’t lie, even when the truth is painful.” Her fingers paused their quick dance across the screen. “I think I’m going to like you, too.”</p>
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